Seven

Bryan dropped Valerie off at her mother's house, then headed home to Haverhill. It was about four in the afternoon, and he didn't expect Eva to be home, if she did indeed go into work that morning. She normally worked twelve hours shifts, her normal shift beginning at six a.m., so at four p.m., she shouldn't have been home.

However, she appeared to be home. He saw her car in the garage when he opened it to drive his Chevy TrailBlazer inside. Two things went through his mind: Eva either didn't go to work, or if she did, she got off early. He wondered what excuse she would give him this time.

He went into the house and felt that something just wasn't right. In the kitchen, there was an empty wine bottle in the trash. Bryan didn't drink wine. The dishwasher was running, and Eva didn't usually do domestic chores.

"Something went on here last night," Bryan said aloud to himself. He couldn't place his finger on it, but there was something that felt out of place in his house. He wondered if Eva was even there, despite the presence of her car in the garage.

He went into his bedroom to put his belongings away. The bed appeared to have been slept in, but was made. There was a definite odor in the air, but Bryan couldn't place it. He felt himself getting angry. Eva had someone here last night and they did their thing in my bed, he thought.

"Eva!" he called, not bothering to mask his anger. "Eva, are you here?"

No answer.

He went to her bedroom, and her bed still didn't appear to have been slept in. He entered the bedroom and checked her closet. Her clothing and shoes were still inside. She had a private phone line, and he checked the last number button. The number dialed and an answering system picked up the call. A male voice announced that the person the caller was trying to reach was not available. No name or number was announced. The announcement sounded like the standard greeting offered by the phone company.

Bryan didn't bother to leave a message. He wondered who he had just called, however. He figured it was one of Eva's friends. Maybe even one of those guys she slept with.

Maybe Valerie was right, Bryan thought, I do need to get rid of Eva if she's going to flaunt her affairs in my face, if she's going to bring men here and fuck them in my bedroom.

The caller ID on Eva's phone showed a local number as an incoming call, so he copied it down and left Eva's bedroom. She wasn't home, and he had no idea where she was. He decided to call the hospital and see if Eva really was at work, and just had someone pick her up today.

Eva's supervisor said Eva had not come into work today, as it was her day off. Bryan thanked her and hung up. He still had no idea where she could be, and frankly didn't really care at the moment.

Bryan decided that he was going to ask Eva to move out, and if she didn't, he would take legal action to make her move out. He wasn't going to play her fool any more. He had far more important things to worry about than whether Eva came home or not.

First thing Monday, he was going to have Eva's phone disconnected.



Eva was visiting her sister, having her brother in law pick her up because she claimed her car was acting up. There was nothing wrong with Eva's car, she just didn't feel like driving that day. Geraldo was nice enough to drive all the way out to Haverhill to get her. Eva's sister, Maria, had just had a baby the night before, and she was still in the maternity ward at Lawrence General.

Geraldo had left the sisters alone for a while, and Eva ooh'd and ahh'd over her new niece. Maria was tired, and was surprised that Eva showed up without her boyfriend, Bryan. Maria asked about Bryan, and was shocked to hear Eva's answer.

"The bastard is sleeping around on me!" Eva exclaimed. "I found some chica's undies in his laundry, and I told him that if he was going to cheat on me, to please keep it to himself."

"I can't believe Bryan would do that!" Maria said, still surprised at Eva's revelation. Bryan just wouldn't do that, Maria thought. He didn't seem the type. Eva, on the other hand, was that kind of person.

She's lying, Maria realized, not really surprised at that. Eva had had problems telling the truth since childhood. Maria seriously doubted Eva knew the truth when she heard it, because Eva, Maria was convinced, believed her lies.

Eva had told Geraldo that she had to leave in an hour, and he soon returned to take Eva home.

Except that Eva wasn't going home, Geraldo learned. She asked him to take her to a building on the corner of May and Crescent. Geraldo thought that was strange, even for Eva. May and Crescent was well known in Lawrence as being notorious for drug deals and gang activity. But, that's where Eva insisted she wanted to be dropped off.

"Okay, Eva, but you find your own way out. I ain't coming back into this neighborhood to get you," Geraldo said as Eva got out of the car.

"I have a way to get home, Geraldo," Eva said, closing the passenger side door. Then she was gone.

She's turned to trickin', Geraldo thought. That or she's on drugs. Why else would she be in this neighborhood?

He drove away and decided to tell Maria that he dropped her sister off at a friend's house on the other side of town. She didn't need to worry about Eva, too. They both had plenty to think about.



But, Eva was going to a friend's house. Sort of.

At the corner of May Street and Crescent Street was where Francisco told her he'd pick her up. Not more than five minutes after Geraldo dropped her off, Francisco was there to pick her up. Eva had called him from a pay phone at the hospital and said she needed to see him. Francisco was more than happy to meet up with her.

"What you need to see me for?" Francisco asked her as she got into the car.

"I'm thinking of moving out of my boyfriend's house and I need a place to go. You know where the good places in Lawrence are, don’t you?" Eva said.

"He find out about what we did last night?"

"Not yet, but I can't stand to be in the same house with him any more."

"I see," Francisco said. "So what you want me to do?"

"Can you find me an apartment near the hospital that's not a dump?"

"Maybe," Francisco said. "What price range we talking about here?"

Eva thought for a moment. She had never really thought about how much she could afford to pay in rent and other expenses, because Bryan paid for everything in regards to the house.

"I don't know, baby," she said now. "I never really thought about it."

Francisco couldn't say he was surprised. Eva was a rather spoiled woman. He knew she was a nurse, and roughly what she made. He'd offer suggestions on where to look, but she'd have to find her own place. He certainly wouldn't suggest any of his properties, because he didn't want to have to deal with her on a regular basis. Having to deal with her right now was something he didn't count on. He was on his way to Andover when he got her call.

"How about five-hundred a month?" Francisco asked her. "Is that doable?"

"I guess so," Eva said tentatively. "Any in that range near Lawrence General? Any of yours near there?"

"I may know of two or three in that area, Eva, but you'll have to check them out on your own. You can't use my name as a reference," Francisco said.

"Why can't I use your name?" Eva asked.

"Because certain people will talk, and my girlfriend will find out."

"So?"

Francisco rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe the girl was that dumb. "You've heard of discretion, Eva? I need you to keep your fuckin mouth shut about this. I'm doing you a favor just giving these suggestions. You mention my name and I will deny even knowing who you are. Got that?"

Eva just looked at him, then said, "Yeah, I get it, Frank."

"Good," he said. He had been racking his brain trying to think of a way to make the girl pay for interrupting his plans for the day. She only knows one thing, so he said,

"You know what to do, Eva. I put my plans on hold to come to your rescue. Now I need a thank you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," he said as he pulled the car behind a vacant building. He turned off the engine. He turned to Eva and said to her in a gruff voice,

"Get out of the car and stand behind it. Then pull up your dress and spread your legs…"

"What?" she asked, surprised that he'd speak to her this way.

"You heard me, bitch," he said. "You called me hoping I'd fuck you, didn't you?"

Eva understood what he wanted her to do. She got out of the car and did what Francisco asked. When he joined her, he turned her around and had her brace herself on the car's trunk. He then fucked her from behind, calling her a whore and a slut, and that his woman was a much better lay than Eva ever hoped to be.

Eva was getting turned on by Francisco's roughness. His hands squeezed her breasts hard while he took her behind the vacant building. Even while he told her that she was a bitch and was fucking her like one, she wanted him to say her name when he came inside her. She realized that she had never heard him say her name while having sexual intercourse.

"You are nothing, Eva. Nothing but a whore. You mean nothing to me, you understand? I have a woman who means everything to me," Francisco grunted as he came close to blowing his load, "and you are not her. I think of her when I'm banging you…"

Just then, he came and cried out a name Eva didn't recognize. She knew it wasn't hers. She heard him say the name 'Nicola' over and over as he came into her.

When they were done, Eva put herself back together and started toward he passenger side of the vehicle, but Francisco stopped her. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him roughly. He kissed her hard, then broke away, got into the car and started the engine.

"You gonna take me home, baby?" Eva asked. She stood there, not realizing what was about to happen.

"Hell, no," Francisco said. "You find your own way back to Haverhill. I'm already late as it is. I don't care how you do it, but I'm not taking you there."

Francisco then drove away. He had turned the corner out on to Haverhill Street when Eva realized her purse was still in the car.



Francisco was halfway to Andover when he saw Eva's bag on the seat. Oh, shit, he thought, what am I gonna do with that?

He stopped at a service station to ponder what to do with the purse. He opened it and took out a wallet. He wanted to see if there was an address he could send it to anonymously.

Instead, he found a good amount of cash. When he counted it, it totaled more than six-hundred dollars. Hmmm, he thought, guess it's mine now. He considered it payment in full for all the shit that Eva had put him through.

He stuffed the cash into his pocket and ditched the wallet and the purse in a trash barrel. He wondered how she was going to explain what happened to her and what happened to her purse. I'd like to be fly on the wall for that conversation, he thought as he drove away. He couldn't think about that now.

He had a date with an angel.




Eva started walking from where Francisco left her. Once she got her bearings, she knew where she was going to go. Her cousin, Araceli, and her fiance, lived a few blocks from where she was, and she got there within an hour.

During the walk, Eva decided that she couldn't tell anyone what really happened, because she knew that someone would want her to press charges. Her meeting with Francisco was her own damned fault. He was right, she did call him hoping to have sex with him, and she did get that. She didn't anticipate that Francisco would abandon her in an alley behind a long condemned house. She decided that she would tell her cousin, anyone else who asked, that she was mugged. It wasn't a far-fetched story. In Lawrence, it happened on a daily basis.

Araceli opened the door and was shocked to see Eva standing there looking disheveled.

"What the hell happened to you, Eva?"

"I went to see Maria at the hospital and I got mugged over on Union Street."

"You okay? You need to see a doctor?" Araceli said excitedly as she brought Eva into the house.

"I'm okay, and I don't need an exam. I wasn't raped or anything. I just need a ride back to Haverhill."

"You didn't drive?"

"No. My car's acting funny and Bryan said he'd have someone take a look at it."

"You want me to call Bryan or the police?"

"No. I just want to go home."

Araceli could understand her not wanting to call Bryan, but why not the cops? Araceli wondered if Eva just wasn't spinning another good story to explain something away. Araceli knew that Eva fooled around, and thought that it was a fling gone bad. She had no idea how right she was.

Araceli said she'd have a friend, David, drive Eva home.



Eva bid her goodbyes to Araceli as her friend David agreed to drive Eva back to Haverhill. David looked Eva over, and wanted her for himself. He was direct when he asked her,

"You like fucking, don't you?"

"What if I do?"

"You been fucked today, Eva?" asked David as his hand reached up under her dress.

"You wanna fuck me, David?" Eva asked, feeling his finger on her clitoris, knowing the answer was yes.

"Let me take you to my place, Eva. I'll show you a good time." David said. He was hard, and he knew she was wet.

"I'll show you a good time, too, David," she purred.

Eva never made it home to Haverhill that night.